


Let's Run Off!

by JuweWright



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Draco Malfoy is a Little Shit, F/M, Ice Skating, San Diego
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 22:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16880052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuweWright/pseuds/JuweWright
Summary: Hermione is still recovering from a break-up with Draco Malfoy. As Christmas approaches all she wants to do is get away. Librarian Theo Nott, who has become her friend and is secretly in love with her, offers to take her to a surprise-location.





	Let's Run Off!

**Author's Note:**

> Pairing: Hermione/Theo  
> Location: San Diego, California  
> Word Prompt: Cuddling
> 
> This was my prompt. I have no clue about San Diego. So there was some research involved. I hope I got it right.

Hermione woke up because the radio in her bedroom started blurting. It would not have been the worst way to wake up, actually waking up to music was much better than waking up any other way which was why she had opted for this device in the first place. But waking up to Wham’s “Last Christmas” was pretty high up on the list of “terrible things to start the day with”. Especially if you just broke up with your boyfriend after you had caught him snogging Astoria Greengrass of all people!

The calendar on the kitchen wall announced that it was the 24th of December. A look outside: It was snowing! And Hermione, who usually loved Christmas and got the decorations out weeks beforehand, felt like she wanted to murder someone. While the kettle started to boil some water for tea, she walked over into the bathroom and checked her face in the mirror. Yes, still good old Hermione. No, she still had not turned into a green, hairy, ugly beast even though she felt very much like the Grinch right now.

An owl banged against the window and she let it in. Pig, who else? She unrolled the parchment while feeding the tiny owl some seeds and sighed. Even though she appreciated Harry’s (and George’s and Molly’s) attempt to cheer her up, she didn’t feel up to spending Christmas at the burrow. Not with Ron there. They were on cordial terms these days. It had been years after all. But still, celebrating Christmas with one ex after having been left by his successor just sounded pitiful enough to make her want to throw up.

She had just gotten dressed and was sipping her tea when another owl landed, carrying “The Daily Prophet”. She unrolled the newspaper, had one look at the picture on the front page and the headline below – “Malfoy and Greengrass – a Match made in the Ministry” – and unceremoniously threw it into the fireplace.

She needed to get out of here! She needed to go somewhere! Somewhere far away! But where? She had no idea whatsoever. She needed inspiration! With a flick of her wrist she threw some floo powder into the fireplace and stepped into the flames.

“Ah, Hermione! Good to see you. Early start today?”

Theo looked just the way he always looked. Lean, lanky, dressed in a dark green shirt and black jeans, brown hair a little unkempt, he was sorting through a huge pile of returned books on the counter. It had been a surprise when he’d taken over the library from the retiring Miss Phillis, but Hermione had found over the last year or two that he was a gentleman to the boot, well-read and also able to discuss anything from books about the history of Diagon Alley to the works of Nicholas Flamel. He also knew how to brew a great cup of coffee.

“Sort of. I need travel-stuff, guide-books, something like that.”

Theo raised a brow.

“Do I detect urgency in your voice, Miss? Is it possible that you intend to flee the hustle and bustle of the yule-tide?”

“I intend to flee the fact that I will be spending this yule-tide alone with Crookshanks as my companion or alternatively at the burrow where I was invited by three different people but still don’t want to be, because Ron and Pansy will also be there and even though Ron’s been civil enough lately, I just can’t stand Pansy. And it would also feel odd to be the only single person in a room full of happy couples.”

Theo considered her words and then nodded.

“Sounds like your current choices are dreadful. Coffee?”

She nodded and he indicated for her to take a seat in one of the two plush armchairs in front of the fireplace.

“As it happens” Theo went on while he set two cups down onto the tiny table between them “my options are equally terrifying. So…” he hesitated “how about this: I’ll take you somewhere far away and we can be each other’s company? That is, if you don’t find hanging out with the local librarian pitiful as well.”

Hermione laughed and lifted her cup, inhaling the scent of the dark-brown liquid.

“You’re much more than the local librarian, Theo. You’ve been a good friend to me. But… do you really not have anywhere to go or be for the holiday?”

Theo shook his head, then shrugged.

“The parents invited me, of course. As they do regularly. I haven’t visited them for half a decade now. I really don’t think I should, unless I want to make the headlines as the boy who murdered his Death Eater father.”

He rolled his eyes.

“He’s not learnt anything. He’s still as much of a pure-blood fanatic as he always was. Terrifyingly narrow-minded.”

Hermione nodded. Then held out her hand.

“Deal” she said. “I’ll meet you here tomorrow morning and I’ll let you take me wherever you want for two days off reality.”

+++

She had packed her bag – with everything from bathing suits to snow shoes because she had no clue where they were going – and left food for Crookshanks who was very indignant about being left to his own devices and without a human to order around for 48 hours. When she turned up at the library, Theo was already waiting and wringing his long sinewy fingers. When she appeared in the fireplace, his face lit up.

“Ah. You came” he said. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

She grinned.

Theo waved his wand and their luggage vanished, forwarded to wherever they would be going.

“Let’s go!” Hermione said and took his arm.

She hated apparition and usually avoided it, but sometimes it was just the fastest way to get anywhere. And Theo was surprisingly good in side-by-side apparition, so she didn’t even feel like throwing up when they landed.

She looked up to see a huge amount of Christmas lights and an ice rink. Several buildings were strewn around it. It was a little warm for December. She frowned.

“Welcome to San Diego” Theo said next to her. “This is Liberty Station, the former Naval Training Center, founded in 1923, about 50,000 recruits a year were trained here for more than sixty years. If you walk in this direction, you will find the ‘enlisted club’, no officers allowed, so the common soldier could just be a dick without being reprimanded for it. There’s pool tables, a theatre and a bowling alley in it and drinks were cheap. Also, there’s a backdoor leading to an underground passage to where the wizard-recruitment-center for new Aurors was formerly located.”

She smiled up at him.

“Ohhh, history. I like it.”

Theo grinned.

“And ice-skating” she added, trying to suppress her glee.

“I remembered you told me about how your parents took you ice-skating when you were a child and how you still enjoy it.”

She had indeed told him about that. But that had been more than a year ago. Hermione wondered whether Theo truly memorized everything she ever told him.

“I’m atrociously bad at it” Theo warned.

Still smiling, Hermione took his hand and pulled him towards the entrance.

“I can teach you” she said excitedly. “Trust me.”

Indeed, Hermione was pretty good at explaining how to skate without falling over.

“Lean forward, don’t look at your feet. Don’t flail your arms, they won’t help you! Don’t shift too much! Try to keep your knees a little bent! If you change legs more often, you can steady yourself better. When you feel okay doing this, you can keep your weight on one foot for a while longer. Yeah exactly like that!”

She was giving instructions while skating backwards in front of him and Theo marvelled at how graceful she moved while he had a tough time not just hitting the ice head-first. Still, he enjoyed how enthusiastic she was about this sport. The woman was practically glowing. He had never expected her to say yes to his crazy idea and he had half-expected her to call the whole thing off in the morning. Hermione Granger had spent many hours in his library over the last few years and they had formed a friendship during that period. But they did not hang out, unless Draco invited him over. After the breakup, he’d found her sobbing over a volume of “Most Potente Potions” and listened to the whole story. Any invitation issued from Draco’s side to him afterwards had gone unanswered.

Why anyone would prefer Astoria Greengrass over Hermione Granger was beyond Theo anyways. The young witch was incredibly clever, interested in so many different topics – excluding Quidditch – and she could be quite funny and witty when she got the chance. He had enjoyed every single minute he had ever spent with her and yes, admittedly, he had slowly but surely fallen in love with her. A fact that remained his secret up to this day.

After the ice-skating, they went for some mulled wine and walked among the Christmas-lights. It was all so very colourful and bright it was almost overwhelming. As the sun started sinking, Theo announced they had one more place to visit and Hermione stretched out her hand to let him apparate there.

His hands were a bit bigger than hers, his fingers thin and his skin a bit rough, dried out by the cold winter air. She let her hand rest in his after they had reached their destination, wondering why it felt so good to be here with him. Yes, Theo was a friend and a good one at that. But she had never thought about him in any other way than as a friend. Why then did her heart skip a beat now as he shyly looked down into her eyes and smiled?

They had ended up at the sea shore. There was a pier stretched out before them, warm white Christmas lights along both sides and a huge Christmas tree at the end. As they slowly walked towards the tree still holding hands, Hermione spotted a number of couples arm in arm walking the same way, children running along the pier. Somewhere a street-musician was playing Christmas tunes on a fiddle.

“You know, I need to make a really stupid confession” she said when they finally leaned against the railing watching the waves roll in. “I don’t have a gift for you.”

Theo’s fingers tightened around hers.

“Being here with you is the greatest gift I could have wished for” he responded.

On their way to the local wizard inn – which was where they would be staying, a tiny place that looked like it had been decorated in the 1920s – Hermione spotted a poster and a plan formed in her head.

When they entered their room, a surprise was waiting for them.

“I explicitly told them I wanted a twin room!” Theo sighed. “Why in Merlin’s name is the world unable to follow perfectly clear instructions?”

He was about to leave the room again and enquire whether there was any possibility to get twin beds, but Hermione held him back, shaking her head.

“It’s a big bed” she just said. “There’s room enough for two.”  


+++

The next morning dawned and Theo felt he was still dreaming, because there was a bunch of bushy hair right in front of his nose and the most amazing witch on this planet snuggled up to him. She was still asleep and he feared to wake her, lest she should withdraw from this position. But she had already sensed his accelerated breathing and heartbeat and opened her eyes. Instead of shying away and rolling back to her side of the king size bed, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her nose in his chest. Theo had no ideas about religion, but whatever deity was in charge of his destiny deserved a massive thank you. He let his fingers run down Hermione’s spine and she purred like a cat.

They got up a good half hour later and entered the guest room where they were greeted with buzzing voices, the scent of coffee and freshly baked goods as well as a free copy of the local muggle- and wizard-newspapers.

Hermione leafed through the muggle-paper – the wizard one had announced something about ‘the hottest new couples in the wizarding world’ on its front page and she didn’t care to find out Draco and Astoria were among them – before announcing that she would be in charge of today’s activities.

Right after they had finished breakfast, she pulled Theo into a fireplace and stumbled out the other end where he stared at the weirdest assortment of houses he had ever seen. They were built of tiny plastic bricks in different colours. Everything here seemed to have been built with these bricks! And there were people in odd-looking costumes with round yellow faces walking around.

“I give you the most Muggle experience you have ever had in your whole life” Hermione grinned and took his hand. “Legoland!”

It was a great day. The sun was shining. The rides were fun. There were Nutella and Peppermint Crepes – and Theo thanked the inventor of the _Tergeo_ spell for saving him from having to sport a huge brown blob on his shirt for the rest of the day and the unknown deity for the fact that he had not noticed he had also spread the stuff wildly around his face and Hermione just leaned over to kiss it off.

“What do you think about going to the opera tonight?” she asked as they walked towards the park-exit.

Theo frowned.

“If it’s Wagner, I am out. I think I can’t handle 5 hours of a soprano dying dramatically on stage.”

“They’re playing Mozart’s Figaro. You’re quite safe.”

He took her hand and kissed her on the cheek.

“Sounds like a great plan then.”

She suddenly stopped in her tracks, insecurity and hesitation in her face.

“I… I was wondering…” she began.

Theo raised a brow.

“Would you… I mean, we agreed on a two-day holiday and I’d have to sort out that someone look after the cat, but… could we just keep travelling about until after Hogmanay?” she asked.

The plan had popped into her head out of nowhere. She still wasn’t sure what was happening between her and Theo. She just knew that it felt good and that she didn’t want it to end yet.

Theo stared at her, then he smiled, this wide, open smile that made his eyes sparkle.

“I’d love to, Hermione” he said. “I’d love to do that.”


End file.
